Alex Leslie, Jane Shi, Kayla Czaga, Kimmortal, and Whess Harman will feature in this weekend of readings, discussions, and workshops, alongside featured artists L'Amour Lisik, Reid Urchison, Joy Ngenda, and Kerri Flannigan. In events held between Open Space and Legacy Gallery, they will share their work and engage in discussions around opening up the possibilities of care, kinship, and community through writing.

Festival program:

Friday, March 22 [Open Space]7-10pm Reading and opening celebration featuring writer Alex Leslie and artist Whess Harman, as well as a dynamic performance of poetry and music by Kimmortal.

The festival will close with a communal meal at Open Space to celebrate the end of the festival; folks are invited to bring food, zines, poems, comics or other creative projects to share!

Throughout the festival, Open Space is also excited to present TENDER, a reading room developed by Assistant Curator Y Vy Truong for the month of March. TENDER is open library space for visitors and guests to come and enjoy an ongoing rotation of reading materials, including books, magazines, and zines. Zine-making and collage tables will also be at Open Space through the festival, and attendees are encouraged to respond to the material of the festival through a hands-on process of drawing, collaging, writing, and making.

Please note: All festival events are free / by donation and open to the public. Folks from outside LGTBQ2S+ communities are asked to be respectful of their position and the space they take up within these spaces.

There will be volunteers and staff on-site to support attendees during the festival. Stay tuned for a more detailed safer spaces policy.

Accessibility info:

Open Space

Open Space is located downtown at 510 Fort Street on the 2nd floor, between Koto Sushi and Little Jumbo restaurants. The gallery is not wheelchair accessible and is accessed by a flight of 23 stairs. There is one step outside to reach the gallery doors. The stairwell is 5 feet wide and has two large landings (approx 5ft x 5ft). The stairs are carpeted and there are white-painted wooden handrails on either side.

The gallery has two gender inclusive washrooms, one multi-stall and one single stall with a urinal. There is a slight slope to enter the hallway with the bathrooms from the main gallery. The soap in the bathroom is scent-free and we ask that folks visiting the gallery are mindful of scent sensitivities and work to reduce their scents.

There will be water and light snacks available at all events. A quiet reading room will be set up in the nook under the mezzanine with a couch, coffee table, books, and zines. Folks are invited to read the material or go there for some quiet.

Staff and volunteers will be oriented to support attendees. They will be visible by a marker of some sorts (TBC).

Cars:
There is street parking in front of the gallery at the bottom of Fort ($3 hourly rate, max 90 minute stay, free evenings after 6pm and Sundays). The nearest lot is at the corner of Fort and Langley St. ($3.50/hour, $18.50/day til 6pm, $10 from 6pm to 6am). The nearest parkade is the Bastion Square Parkade at Langley and Yates (Monday - Saturday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. first hour free, second and third hour is $2 per hour, fourth hour and up is $3 per hour. Vehicle day rate $17.50. The parkade is free evenings after 6pm and Sundays.)

Bikes:
There is a two-way bike lane directly in front of the gallery on Fort St, with bike racks nearby.

If you have any other questions or concerns in regards to accessibility, please contact office@openspace.ca or 250-383-8833.

Legacy Gallery
Legacy Gallery is located at 630 Yates Street, on the corner across from Wild Coffee. The main entrance to Legacy is at street level and there are no steps or gaps to enter the main gallery, inner gallery or washrooms. The main entrance has two sets of heavy doors that must be manually opened. There are additional doors without push buttons to the inner gallery.

Legacy has two single-stall, gender inclusive washrooms. Both of these washrooms have manual doors, and only one provides ample space for mobility devices. The bathrooms are equipped with support bars but the depth of the sink and door handle style may be challenging for some patrons. Unfortunately, we don’t have a change table at this time.

There will be water and light snacks available at all events. There is an inner gallery space that will be set up with chairs as a quiet space.

Staff and volunteers will be oriented to support attendees. They will be visible by a marker of some sorts (TBC).

Buses:
Legacy is down the street from the Yates-Broad Street stop for the 15, 24, 25 buses.

Cars:
There is street parking on Broad Street ($3 hourly rate, max 90 minute stay, free evenings after 6pm and Sundays). There is also a lot at 1312 Broad Street ($4/hour, $14 from 6am-6pm). The nearest parkade is the Bastion Square Parkade at Langley and Yates (Monday - Saturday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. first hour free, second and third hour is $2 per hour, fourth hour and up is $3 per hour. Vehicle day rate $17.50. The parkade is free evenings after 6pm and Sundays.)

Bikes:
There are bike racks located on the corners across from Legacy at the intersection of Yates and Broad Street.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility at Legacy, please contact legacy@uvic.ca or call 250-721-6562.

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Open Space respectfully acknowledges that we are on unceded First Nations territory. The City of Victoria and the surrounding areas lie on the territories of the Coast Salish and Lekwungen-speaking peoples, including the Esquimalt, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations.

Open Space respectfully acknowledges that we are located on the unceded territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, now known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. We seek to honour and uphold these ongoing relationships to the land and its stewards as we work on these territories.

Open Space is not wheelchair accessible and is accessed by a flight of 23 stairs with two landings. There are two gender inclusive washrooms, one multi-stall and one single stall with a urinal. If you have any other questions or concerns about accessibility, please contact office [at] openspace.ca or 250-383-8833.